Orzo Salad with Lemon & Garlic Dressing

The warm weather is here and it seems as though it’s here to stay! The high temps have me craving salads daily. My husband gives me a hard time when salad has been on the menu too often. I often hear “Rabbit food again?” Can y’all hear my eye roll? In an attempt to make my salads more “man approved” I figure I’ll add some pasta!

Orzo is a rice-sized pasta that is most popular in Greece as well as other Mediterranean nations. It is most often used in soups because of its perfect size and shape. Growing up, my mom cooked with Orzo a lot. Yes, I did see it in her soups but she also made an amazing pasta dish that I will have to share sometime here! My favorite way to have orzo, is in pasta salad! I feel like it is a much lighter pasta and because of its small size, you get a great pasta to “stuff” ratio in each bite!

I often mix up my pasta salads depending on what is in season, what we are having for a main course or what I have on hand. One thing I always have on hand is TesseMae’s Organic Lemon Garlic dressing & marinade. No, this is not sponsored (in my dreams!), I am just a huge fan of this dressing! I typically make all of my own dressings because I’ve never been a fan of those sugar, high fructose and preservative packed salad dressings lining store shelves. I’ve often done lemon and olive oil. One day strolling the produce aisle of Kroger I found that beautiful yellow bottle and thought I’d give it a try and Y’ALL- it was love at first bite!

The Lemon Garlic dressing is incredible on salads, as a chicken or pork chop marinade, as a base in pasta dishes but I recently used it on this super simple Orzo salad and it instantly became a new favorite! My husband isn’t a fan of feta, but it would be delicious with that salty bite from some feta.

I cook the Orzo a minute or two less than the cook time on the package and allow it to fully cool. Once its cooled off, I add chopped compari tomatoes, chopped baby spinach and fresh mozzarella. I finish it all off with TesseMae’s dressing, sea salt and fresh cracked pepper- toss it all together and- BAM! A Perfect summer side dish, or a man-approved salad.

About Me

Hey, y'all!
I'm Brittney- a social butterfly, wild spirit turned wife and mom! Living just outside of Nashville, TN in the 'burbs with my husband and my three awesome little humans. I love food, wine and coffee and I'm always up for an adventure! I'll always keep it real with you guys because on this journey of motherhood we all need a friend who keeps it real, right? I'm so happy you're here!